Both boys ran through the bushes and shrubs that seemed everywhere in the woods. Unlike the trees in the mountains, where the ground had been sparse and barren from the poison Yashk had put into the water supply, closer to the city, the forest was filled with all sorts of trees and bushes. It was thick and provided good cover except for the trail they were leaving behind.

Turk could see blood staining leaves from the body his brother was carrying and knew that he was also leaving an easy-to-follow trail too.

“How far to our spot?” Dirk shouted.

Turk tried to concentrate on following Dirk while considering how far they still needed to go.

“Maybe ten minutes,” he shouted back as he shifted the body on his shoulder. “They will struggle to bring the horses through here. We should make it!”

Dirk took off a little faster and plowed ahead. Always the attacker, he rushed headfirst into the task before him.

As they ran Turk occasionally glanced behind them but could see nothing through all the trees. He wondered if they might slow down and get reinforcements but they could not risk slowing down. His shoulder was sore from the constant banging of the body against him, but he knew they both had enough stamina to make it. Neither one of them would have ever been able to run like this or carry this kind of weight back on earth.

With about four hundred yards to go, Dirk slowed down a little and let Turk catch up.

“You want to keep running for the camp or try and carry both while I hide in the forest?” Dirk asked in between deep breaths. Both of them were tired, but the adrenaline flowing through them was pushing them on.

“It’s too dangerous to split up right now! We have to keep going. Dad and Vreek are up there and can help if we need it.”

Dirk let out a loud groan and nodded. He was not happy that they were expected to pull this plan off on their own and would only get help from the other two if things got bad. Dad and Vreek had never done a plan like this on their own.

They finally reached the small clearing and saw the camp they had prepared ahead of time. Two small cots with blankets were set up around a campfire waiting to be lit. Both boys rushed over and dropped a body on each blanket.

“Get that heart quickly and let’s eat it now!” ordered Turk as he pulled out a knife and plunged it into the chest of the one he had killed. Dirk nodded and quickly did the same. After both boys had cut out the hearts they pulled the blankets over the dead body and Turk ignited the fire with a spark of magic.

“Get to your spot. I’ll get to mine!’ Dirk called out as he took off to the left of the clearing while shoving the heart into his mouth.

Turk took off to the right, and as he ran, used the magic he had learned to hide the footprints and disruptions in the dirt as he moved. Both boys made it to the treeline and scampered up a tree.

Turk looked across the field and noticed red blood on the side of the tree where Dirk had climbed up.

He was too far to do anything about it and hoped that it was on a side those who came into the clearing would not notice. Now all they had to do was wait.

Minutes passed and nothing moved around the camp. Each of them knew it might be a day before they could possibly see anyone. The heart Turk had consumed made him feel energized and enhanced his senses some but beyond healing and those few small things it provided nothing special. It was just an ordinary heart.

Turk sniffed the wind, but the campfire was blowing towards him now, and the smell of the smoke messed up his ability to possibly smell anything. His eyes glanced through the leaves and scanned the direction they had taken into the clearing. No movement could be detected that he saw. He doubted they would just charge into the clearing but then again if they thought there were only two of them, who knows what the elves might do.

An hour had gone by and still nothing. Turk was frustrated and figured Dirk was upset as well. He knew that Dirk would stay in place until it was time to act but he did not realize how boring or difficult it was to sit in a tree for an hour and do nothing but stare around a clearing.

Three hours had passed and the campfire they had lit was almost out now. Smoke was wafting toward the sky. Anyone looking for them could not miss that easy clue. Turk was trying to not shift in the tree. His feet were getting a little cramped but he was thankful for the heart as it helped alleviate the cramping to a large degree.

Suddenly Turk noticed a small amount of movement from the direction they had come into the clearing. Two blond-haired people were hiding behind two different trees from that direction. Turk scanned the rest of the thirty-meter clearing and saw that near Dirk’s area were another two people off to that side. Neither of them had reached the tree Dirk had climbed up yet.

A twig snapped, and Turk glanced down and saw that coming towards the tree he was in was three elves. Two females and one male. It looked like one of the female elves was a warrior. Her hair was braided against her head, and she wore some chain armor that did not make any sound. The male was a caster based on his clothing and staff and the other female was an archer. She had a really nice white bow. Turk found himself staring at the bow in envy. His was nice, but hers looked a lot nicer than his.

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Staying still and using just his eyes to glance around the places he knew had elves watching, he saw them all getting into position.

A bird call sounded from the direction they had come, and a few seconds later three archers opened up fire on two cots they believed the goblin invaders were sleeping. They fired over and over, and soon there were a good eight arrows or more in each of the sleeping goblins.

A warrior from each of the three sides slowly walked towards the blankets they had just peppered with arrows. Turk knew that once they saw they had shot the bodies of their fallen elves their trap would have to have spring.

It took them a good twenty seconds to slowly make their way to the blankets, and right before the first one there started to pull back the blanket, Turk sent two flaming bolts at the two elves nearest to him.

Both of them shouted and shrieked as they started to burn from the bolts. They were not piercing like an arrow but they did the job of setting them both on fire. Turk quickly pulled back on his bow, having already had an arrow knocked, and fired it off at the mage who was still standing and trying to cast something to put out the fire.

The arrow buried itself in his neck, and the male elf dropped dead. In just a few seconds the entire clearing erupted in chaos. The warriors were shouting and yelling, they had pulled back the blankets and heard the cries of their fellow members.

“It's a trap!” he heard one of the warriors shout.

Turk did not spare a glance in Dirk’s direction. He knew the archer over there would be as good as dead, and he needed to finish the archer closest to him.

He took another arrow and drew it back, and shot her in the back as she ran away. She collapsed on the ground and was still alive, even though she was burning and had an arrow in her lungs. She was crawling along the ground.

These heroes are a lot stronger than what we are used to Turk thought as he took a third arrow and let it fly, striking her in her neck and ending her movement.

Turk glanced to the clearing now and saw that each of the warriors was running towards their original location.

As much as Turk did not want to give away his location, he needed to let everyone know the elves they were fighting were not as easy as all of the other heroes they had faced so far.

“We need help! These are stronger heroes!” Turk shouted as he fired an arrow at the warrior returning to where Turk had just killed the two elves. It buried itself in the warrior's leg and he shouted out in pain as he fell to the ground, using his sword to stay upright.

An arrow flew into the tree near him and almost hit him. The archer, still alive, was unsure where he was but had a good idea of his general location.

Dirk had watched the two elves approach him and saw the female warrior and archer stop a little bit away from where he was. He had been bored out of his mind for the last three hours or so, but now his muscles were tingling with excitement at what would happen next.

When the warrior had walked off and left the archer alone, he knew what he wanted to do. Slowly he slid the two knives out of his sheath that was covered in a poison the Blackhand had taught him. Unless someone had a cure, they should be unconscious in about twenty seconds. The nerve agent was pretty potent.

As he watched the group of three warriors approach their trap, he knew Turk would go first. All he had to do was wait for the signal.

Checking back on the archer, he saw her still holding an arrow ready in her bow. All she would have to do is draw the bow back and fire. He admired her blond hair that was braided all the way down to her butt. She looked older than the humans they had faced, but he had no clue how old elves were.

Suddenly the sounds and yellings coming across the camp drew his mind back to what was around him. Dirk glanced and saw two fires burning a few trees away from where Turk was. Glancing at the woman, he saw her gazing towards that area, trying to see what was happening. Dirk flicked both wrists and threw his daggers and watched as they flew the twelve yards he knew was between them and struck her in her bow arm and her leg.

The bow fell from her hand, and she cried out momentarily as she looked at the pair of daggers in her. She started to reach for one and stumbled a moment. Glancing around, she became wobbly and fell to the ground. In just a few seconds, her flailing was already drawing to an end. Dirk knew she would be out for at least thirty minutes.

Dirk glanced back to the clearing and saw the warrior that had left earlier coming back quickly to find her partner. She glanced around and did not locate her and held up her sword and shield as she approached the treeline.

A few yards from where she had exited, she saw her archer ally down on the ground and shouted something. Dirk understood only a few words that Turk had taught them. Help was the only word he could pick out of the shouting she had done.

Dirk glanced back at his brother and saw the other two warriors approaching his location and an archer from where they had entered the clearing shooting a few arrows toward the tree he was in.

Dropping down quietly, Dirk waited for the woman to get close to her ally. He hid in the shadow of the tree and slowed his breathing. When he saw the woman was almost to her downed archer, he started walking behind her, allowing the forest's shadows to alter his appearance magically. The Blackhand had taught him to channel the shadows and draw them to him, creating a natural spot for him to hide.

As he drew closer in those few quick steps, he noticed that she was much taller than he was. Thankful for his training with the orcs, he came up behind her, kicked her knee forward, and yanked on her chain shirt from the back. The force of his kick and the power in his pull sent her into a backdrop she was unprepared for. That move could overpower most unsuspecting people by breaking their balance.

As she tipped backward, his right hand brought a dagger to her throat, and he plunged it deep. Her right hand swung up towards him out of reflex with the sword, but he had her center of gravity in his control, and he shifted her a little to the right, making that wild swing find nothing but air.

Ripping the dagger from her throat, he tossed her to the ground as she tried to grab her neck. Neither hand had let go of the sword or shield yet, and her mind would not allow her to think right in this state.

Dirk wasted no time after he dropped her and moved back into the woods, setting a path for the archer who was firing at his brother.

He heard Turk shout that these elves were stronger, but Dirk scoffed. So far, he had seen nothing that made him believe that was true.

As he made his way through the forest, his heart sank for a moment.

He heard a cry from where Turk was. Turk had been shot!